At Pace Primitive, Ancient and Tribal Objects Offer Windows to a Multicultural Past

Artsy

May 18th, 2016 10:36 pm

Image courtesy of Pace Primitive.

An exhibition
of ancient
art can feel like a history lesson, intended to edify the viewer
about a particular time or place. That’s not quite the case for “Ancient and Tribal Sculpture,” the current
show at Pace Primitive in New York. The multicultural exhibition presents an array of complex, engaging works while allowing the
viewer trace her own path through the gallery and forge her own connections.

The
showstopper? A two-meter-tall Egyptian sarcophagus from the 23rd Dynasty (circa
825–730 BCE) that housed the remains of Princess Sopdet-em-Haawt. During this
period, political power was dispersed, and Sopdet’s father was one of several
kings who ruled smaller regions along the Nile. Political instability halted
royal tomb construction, so incantations normally reserved for tomb walls had
to be placed on the coffin itself. As such, columns of hieroglyphs overrun the coffin below
Sopdet’s surprisingly soft face. Her opulent, intricately inscribed sarcophagus
simultaneously bolstered her family’s claim of power and asserted her place in
the afterlife.

Elsewhere in
the exhibit, a sculpture from Gandhara, in what is today northwest Pakistan,
reminds us that ancient societies were often culturally intertwined. Alexander
the Great, having conquered the region, brought classical Greek traditions that
influenced Gandharan art in subsequent centuries, as in a third-century
standing Bodhisattva carved from gray schist. The
iconography derives from the Buddhist religion that dominated Gandhara, yet
the figure features subtly modeled musculature, a contrapposto stance, and naturalistic
swags of drapery that recall Hellenistic
sculpture. Nearby, a Roman marble torso cinches the cultural connection.

Image courtesy of Pace Primitive.

While the larger
objects on display might draw the most attention, there’s plenty of intrigue in a small ceremonial
drinking horn from Cameroon. Its pattern suggests interwoven straw, while
stylized scorpions, snakes, and salamanders slither over the surface. The
artist, whoever he or she was, completely dematerialized the buffalo horn from which the piece is
carved.

Teeming with life and movement, the object forms a marked contrast to
the timeless rigidity of other pieces on display—proof that ancient and tribal
artists were able to achieve a remarkable variety of effects.